Washington, DC – With the high likelihood of continued instances of professional football players “taking a knee” while the National Anthem is played during this week’s NFL games, members of the Project 21black leadership network are warning that continued protests lacking clear intentions are hurting the sport’s reputation as well as the well-being of its sponsors.

While fans who have been polled by the media do not necessarily want players fired over their protests, overwhelming majorities want professional athletes to stand respectfullyduring the playing of the National Anthem. Past protests have been cited as a key factorin fans no longer watching games.

In a commentary published on the Fox News Channel website, Project 21 Co-ChairmanStacy Washington wrote that millionaire athletes protesting without a specific goal are testing the dwindling patience of the American people.

“The NFL has a choice to make, and it’s an easy one: political activism or sports. The American people will only tolerate one of those so they had best choose wisely,” said Washington, a syndicated talk radio host on the American Family Radio and Urban Family Talk networks and U.S. Air Force veteran who served in an honor guard unit at military funerals. “There are ways to sway a community; defiling a national symbol associated with honor, service, sacrifice and bravery isn’t one of them. If the NFL continues to indulge the players, declining ratings and lower attendance at games will become the norm. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and the team owners must man up: choose the fans by ending the protests.”

Anger over the players’ protests has trickled down to other businesses that make money through their affiliation with the NFL. Fans are reportedly buying less team merchandiseand not going to games (and thus not buying concessions). Bars are refusing to broadcastgames. And, in a move that could be costly to the NFL, DirecTV has let some customers cancel their premium “Sunday Ticket” game packages. Sponsor boycotts are also being organized.

“We live in a free country where people have a right to free speech. Having said that, there’s a responsibility to use it wisely,” said Project 21 member Darryn “Dutch” Martin, a former federal diplomatic official and motivational speaker. “I believe Colin Kaepernick and other NFL players have a right to kneel when the National Anthem is played. But the flip-side to this coin is that fans don’t have a duty to spend their hard-earned money on the NFL if they feel our country is being disrespected in any way – even by a peaceful protest such as kneeling during the National Anthem. Furthermore, team owners who are fully aware of the financial ramifications shouldn’t be obligated to hire players such as Kaepernick. There’s a time and a place for everything. Professional sports should be a politics-free affair.”

Project 21 member Nadra Enzi, a community anti-crime activist in New Orleans, is critical of the anti-law enforcement sentiments that many protesting players are embracing: “I can’t take a knee to take up a cause that gives perverted honor to mostly career criminals who lost their final fight with the police. Doing do steps on the dignity of urban crime victims and the officers who have been killed in the line of duty in the inner city.”

“We need civil discourse,” said Project 21 member Jerome Danner, host of the “Thinking It Through” podcast. “It is my utmost desire that our most famous athletes and Commander-in-Chief would set an example by engaging in thoughtful conversation. Rather than impulsively stating our opinions about emotional issues, careful introspection should be taken and considerate perspectives shared. Protests are not necessarily wrong, and neither is having an opinion about them. To move forward as a unified nation, however, we should proceed in a thoughtful and courteous manner uncharacteristic of the times.”

I was sent this photo along with a list of things that end up making very strange bedfellows should a woman have the SAME rights as guns. But I’m not going to make it that easy for you. After I post this, I’ll come back in the comments section and leave my first comment to help compliment the photo. I hope you will join in the fun.

Reminds Congressman of the Role Armed Volunteers Played in Protecting Non-Violent Civil Rights Pioneers Like Himself

Washington, DC – Project 21 Member and New Orleans anti-crime activist Nadra “Cap Black” Enzi has the following statement about the “sit-in” of the U.S. House of Representatives promoting gun control led by Rep. John Lewis (D-GA):

U.S. Congressman John Lewis is one of the people responsible for my enjoyingfull citizenship as a black Southern member of Generation X. I owe him and other civil rights movement heroes a debt that cannot be repaid. That said, I respectfully disagree with the sit-in he led on floor of the U.S. House of Representatives to push for gun control legislation.

Today, the premiere threat to what I call the civil right of safety for “urban hostages” [inner city residents] isn’t distant White Citizens Councils nor racist police. Sadly, a chocolate Klan hunts black prey as methodically now as the white one did in the 1960s.

Self-defense shouldn’t be reduced to a partisan issue or ideological talking point. For the poor and disenfranchised Congressman Lewis champions, gun ownership puts them on a level playing field with richer, safer Americans far removed from daily home invasion; rape and armed robbery.

Project 21, a leading voice of black conservatives for over two decades, is sponsored by the National Center for Public Policy Research. Its volunteer members come from all walks of life and are not salaried political professionals.

Contributions to the National Center are tax-deductible and greatly appreciated.

National Center for Public Policy Research to Present a Shareholder Proposal There Calling on McDonald’s to Stop Kowtowing to Liberal Activists

Company Has Bowed to Liberal Demands in the Past; Rather than Be Mollified, the Activists are Emboldened, and Ask for Still More

Oak Brook, IL / Washington, D.C. – Despite the expectation of violence from left-wing protestors, Justin Danhof, Esq. of the National Center for Public Policy Research will attend and speak at the 2016 McDonald’s annual shareholder meeting in Oak Brook, Illinois, near Chicago.

The National Center is presenting a shareholder resolution urging the fast food giant to alter its strategy of catering to leftist activists on wage and other economic issues.

The National Center for Public Policy Research’s Free Enterprise Project is the nation’s preeminent free-market activist group focusing on shareholder activism and the confluence of big government and big business. In 2014-15, National Center representatives participated in 69 shareholder meetings, and McDonald’s meeting will be its 15th meeting so far this year.

The National Center for Public Policy Research, founded in 1982, is a non-partisan, free-market, independent conservative think-tank. Ninety-four percent of its support comes from individuals, less than four percent from foundations, and less than two percent from corporations. It receives over 350,000 individual contributions a year from over 96,000 active recent contributors. Sign up for free issue alerts here or follow us on Twitter at @NationalCenter.

Is It Any Wonder Some Conclude Civil Disobedience is a Safe and Consequence-Free Activity?

WASHINGTON, DC – Left-wing activists and news outlets that only partially cover their activities are in part to blame for the confrontation in Oregon that led to the death of LaVoy Finicum, says the National Center for Public Policy Research.

That’s because left-wing organizations often use civil disobedience without consequences, which leads the public to believe law-breaking in pursuit of political or public policy goals can take place without serious consequences.

Parts of the news media are complicit because they cover stories in ways that help the left-wing organizations achieve their goals.

Kieran Suckling, the executive director of the Center for Biological Diversity, a left-wing green group, was repeatedly covered in the news media criticizing those occupying the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge (for example, here, here, here, here,here ). No story we found mentioned that Suckling has been found guilty in court (here, here) for occupying private property and refusing to leave as part of a political protest, or that he has been arrested (and even bragged about it by issuing a press release) for civil disobedience as recently as 2014.

“In yet another case of ‘do as I say, not as I do,’ the environmental left is protesting civil disobedience by citizens while it practices and/or condones civil disobedience itself,” said David Ridenour, president of the National Center for Public Policy Research.

“Kieran Suckling, the executive director of the Center for Biological Diversity, a left-wing green group that sues the government while expecting the taxpayers to pay its legal bills, has gone to Oregon to protest the occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. Yet he has been found guilty of much the same offense. Occupying another’s property without their permission in the name of a political cause is either wrong or it isn’t. It isn’t okay when the environmental movement does it and wrong for everyone else. Kieran Suckling is much like the Bundys; he may disagree on policy but he’s used the same technique,” Ridenour added. “Kieran Suckling should be laughed out of Oregon for his hypocrisy. So should any news reporter who writes about the Center for Biological Diversity’s statements about the occupation at the wildlife refuge without covering Mr. Suckling’s past conviction in a court of law for similar activities.”

Parts of law enforcement also share partial blame, the group says.

“Kieran Suckling is far from the only leftist to be arrested for civil disobedience,” said Amy Ridenour, chairman of the National Center for Public Policy Research. “Most liberal activists who commit civil disobedience are never charged, or get merely a tiny slap on the wrist. The news media runs pictures of left-wing activists getting arrested for their cause of the day knowing full well the charges will be dropped, but the media never tells the public the arrests are all-but-fake. Quite often all this is arranged in advance. The public is impressed by this false dedication. But people who pay attention know those arrested rarely face any penalties. Is it any wonder some have gone on to assume civil disobedience is a perfectly safe and consequence-free thing to do?”

“Law enforcement shouldn’t make essentially fake arrests so activists can look good on camera, and government officials who get arrested on purpose should be fired,” Amy Ridenour added. “A high-ranked member of the Bush and Obama Administrations, James Hansen, who ran NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies before he retired, wasrepeatedly and intentionally arrested – in violation of the law as well as federal ethics rules — while serving in the executive branch, the part of the government that is tasked with enforcing laws. He was never fired. When even high-ranking members of the law enforcement branch of government break the law to get attention for their pet causes, sanity has broken down. Until we restore sanity, expect to see more civil disobedience. And because law enforcement treats some civil disobedience as worse than others, and enforces the law against some while dropping charges against others, expect to see more deaths like the one in Oregon yesterday.”

The National Center for Public Policy Research last commented on the Oregon situation in a press release here. It neither endorses nor participates in acts of civil disobedience, and it has not endorsed the occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.

This is an interesting presentation. I’m assuming the raw footage is real. The people there should be allowed to protest but their message is based upon wrong information. If we were free men, we would not be having the need to protest. If we were free men our right to self protection would not be limited. The misinformation is that the constitution was for the individual. It is a contract between the Federal Government and the States. America was never “won” from King George. The Paris Treaty of 1783 and the Jay Treaty of 1794 assured that. And what was left of any constitution was completely changed with the illegal passage of the 14th Amendment. Our rights come from God not man. We should all stand up for God-given rights; that no man can give and take away rights. Because of this, none of us are free men.